Lewisia

Companion plant for troughs and rockeries

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Lewisia is one of those highly underutilized alpine plants, mostly
because of its knack of dying out in a couple of years when planted in
the wrong spot.

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It requires excellent drainage in a rich gritty soil, originating as
it does in the high mountains in North America, but it also needs
frequent water and a cool root run.

Planting in trough gardens,
hypertufa containers and rockeries will supply these needs quite well.
In fact, Lewisia has experienced a revival in interest due to the
parallel interest in trough gardening and making hypertufa projects.

Easily
grown from seed, although slow to reach the size needed for
transplanting into larger containers or its final display area, Lewisia
once established can be eye catching in bloom. The large individual six
petalled flowers in peach, pink or white are held high above the
foliage in a spray, lasting for several weeks.

Unfortunately, once the flowering season is over, Lewisia tends to be
forgotten, as just a clump of green leaves in a rosette. An exception
to this trait is Lewisii ‘George Henry’, which will bloom from May until
the autumn.

The foliage of most Lewisia is attractive enough;
usually grey or blue green, spoon shaped leaves emerging from a central
point stay fresh all season. Typically, there is a down curving point
on the outer edge of the leaves.

Many hybrids have arisen from the species once common in rock gardens
of collectors. Some species which have been used to hybridize are also
still around in their original form such as L. columbiana, L.
cotyledon, L. finchae, L. heckneri, L. howellii, l. mariana and L.
purdyi. Many others have inter married and formed some of the most
beautiful hybrids such as Lewisia ‘Pinkie’, short little dwarf plants
with lots of narrow petalled pink flowers.

Other species such as
L. tweedyi have never been hybridized. Many different forms are
available with flowers in shades of apricot, yellow and pink and some
types are seen with deep rose red and even white albino flowers.

After
blooming, Lewisia should be allowed to dry a little to rest. Some
species such as L. nevadensis and L.oppositifolia are summer dormant,
losing their leaves and disappearing. I suspect that a lot of these
plants are summarily pulled up when the novice grower thinks they are
dead. If left, they will re-emerge to bloom again the following season.

Lewisias ideal conditions are in a crevice garden
or planted on a slope, where they can obtain the perfect drainage they
require. If you have a knack with challenging plants that require a
certain benign neglect, these may just be the plants for you to try and
grow with seed propagation.

All you ever needed to know about growing succulents in your xeric garden is in this book: